This Curriculum Guide brings 5th grade families on a journey to discover the middot, the Jewish virtues, that we as Jews encounter throughout our everyday lives.This curriculum opens learners’ minds to a vast array of lenses through which to approach middot and recognizes each learner’s unique struggle to make sense of middot. It brings families together to explore life's most important questions during a time when pre-adolescents and their parents begin to differentiate from each other. When parents and children learn separately and together, Jewish content will become family content.
This curriculum guide was created by Rabbi Sarah Rosenbaum Jones, 2018 graduate of the HUC-JIR School of Education. It was intended for 5th graders and their families.
Peninsula Temple Beth El (PTBE), San Mateo, CA. Families in small groups with similar age kids begin learning together, move into separate groups for parallel study and then come back together for a family activity followed by participation in Shabbat worship.
Mensch-ify is an alternative learning program that is held twice a month for families with children in Pre-K to 6th grade. It is a developmentally appropriate program, built upon the parent-child co-learning experience, that combines stories, songs, art, movement, and play to provide families with the tools they need to live a Jewish life that works for them.
Mayim, our initial example of "Additional" Models, could be placed in a Multi-aged, Project-Based Learning, or Experiential Learning bucket. Mayim is a K-5 learning community in which depth of relationships and depth of learning are intentionally fostered and visible everywhere.